Pearl Harbor vets tour Navy training ship

Dean Garrett was a pharmacist's mate at the Naval Hospital near Pearl Harbor when Japanese planes tore into the U.S. Navy base Dec. 7, 1941.

The 89-year-old Freeport man said the training he received at Great Lakes Naval Station served him well as he helped treat hundreds of bleeding sailors that fateful morning.

Now, 67 years later, he got the chance to tour a newer, bigger and more high-tech facility that bears little resemblance to the base he remembers.

Seven Pearl Harbor survivors got an inside lo.ok at the base during a special tour Thursday morning.

The highlight of their visit was boarding the USS Trayer.

The Navy's newest and largest simulator, the $56 million destroyer is used to train more than 40,000 recruits annually. The 210-foot-long ship was commissioned a year ago.

The Trayer is used for "Battle Stations." The grueling 12-hour ordeal puts recruits through 17 scenarios from floods to fires, and serves as the final exam before becoming sailors.

"This is a helluva lot better than what we had when we trained here," said 90-year-old Ambrose Ferri of Waukegan. Ferri said things were simple when he was at Great Lakes in 1938. "We learned on the job in those days."

The sailors, most in their 80s, some in their 90s, toured the state-of-the-art ship and were treated to lunch with new recruits.

The ship is equipped with simulation technology rivaling anything Hollywood can produce. The heavy odor of diesel fuel, the whirling blades of helicopters and powerful bone-rattling jolts from incoming missiles, recreate what sailors may experience at sea.

"This is magnificent, simply magnificent. It's so realistic." said Ralph H. Laedtke, 88, of Grayslake. Laedtke was aboard the USS Solace when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor. He trained at Great Lakes when he was just 19 years old.

The former sailors were from the Northern Illinois chapter of Pearl Harbor Survivors, which has 65 living members.

Garrett said the Navy has come a long way since he served.

"This ship is unbelievable," he said. "Back in my day, the training was simple. March and behave yourself. That was it."

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